Tires: Which tire wears out first ?

[stromgal]

I wear out the rear b/4 the front. To much horse-power weight with the FJR.

 

[bomber]

The tread on the rears goes quicker but the front usually cups causing it to need replacing.

^this

on all tires and all bikes over the years -- street, that is

[WhiteyJr]

I usually get 2 rears to a front on my street tires, but when I swapped out for some knobby TKC80s, the front was starting to cup pretty badly by the time the wear bars were reached on the rear.

-Whitey Jr

[MKorn]

On my C14 the front seems to go first!

The DRZ eats rear tires.

[Frankienuckles]

The smoky one always wears out first!

[Papa Lazarou]

On a Velosolex, both tyres wear at the same rate. Replace every 20 years or so.

[muddauber]

On my 2002 Triumph Trophy 1200, the front tire had some tread left but it was cupped so badly it was a pig in the twisties. The rear had less tread than the front and needed to be replaced also. So, I replaced both at the same time. It had Metzlers on it but I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Road 3's.

[DaisyCutter]

Even though my rear wears out before the front, I change them as a set.

Me too.  "Wear" is vastly more than a function of tread depth.  I don't have an hour to try to explain it.

I replace as a set.

[MadtownMax]

Front first:  I've been running Road 2's on the back and getting about 8k mi. On the front it's been a Power which seem to last me about 5k mi. (5,200 on my last one). My ST4s is my daily commute (25 mi./day) 9 months of the year, provides me weekend fun in the unglaciated (hilly, curvy, empty county roads ) portion of S.W. Wisconsin and takes me on an occasion weekend slab trip (1 IBA ride this year). Always solo, sometimes w/ camping gear.

Just last week I switched out to Road 3's front and back to see how they perform and what kind of mileage they'll provide. I did an aggressive 6 hr. meander ride last weekend and steadily gained confidence in their grip so that by the end I felt like they were indistinguishable from the Road 2/Power setup I'd been running. A track day would make the differences more apparent. It was a beautiful, dry sunny day in the 70's.

The main difference I sense so far is the Road 3 takes a bit more effort to get over into the lean. I assume that's more due to the front tire geometry but I'm not sure.

Fingers crossed on the mileage. I'll need to get another ~ 1,200 mi. on the Road 3's to get back to the same $/mi. as the Road 2/Power.  If I don't it's back to the Power on the front - great grip.

I should note I change my tires with some tread life left... some may take them another 500 or more miles but the Powers have tended to develop "irregularities" just off center that make them behave weirdly and the Road 2's go fast once they start developing the flat top-dead-center.

MadtownMax